Issue 1: Trust the Process
Updates across the worlds of entertainment, cannabis, education, medicine and more.
Above: Selfie taken from my makeshift office in my new apartment, where I was writing this newsletter on the eve of my 38th birthday.
Last month, I made two key decisions. One was to acquire a new-to-me vehicle. The other was to move.
Given the current state of my finances, neither choice made complete sense. I had just acquired enough clients to relieve the strain of renting a tiny apartment in rural Georgia with no other significant expenses. Yet, I didn’t give myself even a month to enjoy the relief.
Instead, I took on the expenses of enrolling my daughter in a hybrid middle school, financing a 2016 Nissan and moving to Atlanta. At various points during the past month, I’ve doubted my intuition and asked powers unknown for some sort of sign that I could trust my process. Each time, I’ve received one.
First, a bumper sticker from a Move On campaign arrived the day before I went to finance my car. Next, my dining room wall filled with water and all the art hanging from it fell to the ground the day I submitted my intention to vacate. I interpreted this as the world’s way of telling me what I already knew: Change was coming, and stasis wasn’t an option.
Now, I’m here, in a nice apartment I secured through intuition-driven means. I’m living with cancer, gaining new clients, closing a company and guiding myself and my children through the COVID era.
As I trust my process, I encourage you all to do the same. An overview of my recent projects follows. Since this is the first Grey Way newsletter, I’m providing more background on each topic than normal. In the future, I’ll simply highlight published work within each area. If something speaks to you, please get in touch! I’d love to explore working together.
Arts & Entertainment
I began working in arts and entertainment journalism with a regional paper called The Rome Unscene. It was the early 2000s, and I interviewed regional bands and visual artists weekly. Having no formal understanding of music or art, I wrote from a highly subjective perspective that centered on unearthing over-arching themes and exposing each creator’s human vulnerabilities. It was fun work that ended around the time my 12-year marriage began.
Within the marriage, I co-founded TerraTonz, a steel percussion musical instrument business that I’m in the process of closing now. I invite you to listen to Kelly Richey playing her TerraPan and to Sam Maher playing his. I’m finding owners for the final instruments now and would love one of them to be a Grey Way subscriber. Please email kellilynngrey@gmail.com if you’re interested.
Additional background about TerraTonz and future-facing pieces about the sacred sound industry will also appear within BAMF Books’ Journeys here on Substack. My publication BAMF Mag also provides arts and entertainment coverage, with an eye on my other specialties.
Finally, I’m happy to announce that I’ve joined forces with Eloquent Mag. Published work is forthcoming in future issues of The Grey Way. For now, I give you the classic “Billie Knows Best.”
Education
Trained as both a journalist and educator, I have ample real-world experience teaching traditional and non-traditional students, grades K-adult. When the pandemic began, I started developing a project with Six Red Marbles. Lately, I’ve been collaborating with Education Without Limits, a forward-thinking start-up.
Cannabis, Psychedelics & Drug Culture
Since beginning my blog-based column NORML Mom in 2015, writing about cannabis from the perspective of a parent and activist has been my passion. This extends to the psychedelics movement and drug culture as a whole.
Recently, I've been honored to collaborate with Healthline on a series about ethical cannabis. Links to my contributions about packaging and advocacy will appear in a forthcoming issue of The Grey Way. Likewise, next month’s issue will feature the essay about the intersection of cannabis, psychedelics and spirituality that I just completed for Inside the Jar.
I’m actively seeking more opportunities to write for businesses and organization at the forefront of cannabis culture. For your reading pleasure, an essay from the peak of my NORML Mom days is here: A NORML Mom Takes Not One Step Back.
Medicine
Since July 2020, I’ve been honored to serve Wellstar (the state of Georgia’s largest healthcare system) as a copywriter. I’ve created press releases, patient letters and educational materials. However, I’m most pleased with the content I’ve created for Wellstar’s Center for Health Equity. Researching those pieces has shined a light on social determinants of health and clarified my personal approach to having cancer.
Those pieces will also appear within a forthcoming issue. For now, here’s “I Have Already Survived” — an essay from Medium’s Invisible Illness that touches on my personal experience of social determinants of health, though I don’t refer to the concept by name.
SOVEREIGN: Recovery Poems
My full-length collection SOVEREIGN: Recovery Poems is forthcoming this year. Originally a project to help me process my cancer diagnosis and pay for treatments, it’s taken on new dimensions in the wake of COVID-19.
A minimum donation of $20 USD still secures a signed copy and invitation to the virtual launch party. Counting donations from GoFundMe, Venmo, and PayPal— I’m just $2500 USD away from my $9K funding goal. Please use the links in this text to donate if you’re able!
Content of The Grey Way is free, but tips via Venmo, CashApp or PayPal are always welcome. Thanks for your support!